


Understanding

by Sinful Words (MontanaHarper)



Category: British Actor RPF, Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-04-14
Updated: 2004-04-14
Packaged: 2017-10-11 20:54:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/117004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MontanaHarper/pseuds/Sinful%20Words
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are many lessons Orlando learns from being a part of the Fellowship. Some hurt less than others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Understanding

**Author's Note:**

> Presumably there's no truth to the rumors that Orlando had planned to propose to Kate at the Empire Awards, but I'm pretending there was—and that he did—for the purposes of this story. I mean, it's fiction, y'all.
> 
> Thanks so much to Meghan for the beta and the ongoing AIM feedback; the story has been immeasurably improved by her contribution. Any remaining flaws are a result of me having had a bit too much rum and a bit too little sleep.

Orlando's no stranger to being picked on and teased. As an overweight child who wanted to be an actor, he might as well have painted a target on himself while growing up. But for all that he has some painful memories of his youth, he doesn't regret any of it—not even the fall that broke his back—because cumulatively it's made him who he is, and he's rather pleased with "Orlando Bloom".

The other benefit of his less-than-idyllic childhood is that he can recognise the difference between the teasing he endured from schoolyard bullies at age twelve and the teasing he endures at the hands of the Hobbits and Men. Most times the latter is affectionate and he responds in kind. Occasionally, though, someone—usually Dom—doesn't know when to stop.

If it were Elijah, Orlando would put it down to youth and getting caught up in the moment, and Elijah would be forgiven in an instant. Most times, Dom is also quickly forgiven—though usually after a return jibe or friendly bit of physical abuse.

But Dom's behaviour seems to be a catalyst, influencing how the others treat him, and as time goes on—and the pranks become more frequent and more vicious—Orlando finds himself actively wishing it were all over.

He takes in stride the teasing about his broken rib, stifles the urge to be smug when Viggo and Dom suffer their own injuries and bear them less-than-stoically. He's even gracious in the aftermath of the hotel "kidnapping" incident, despite the stinging of both his skin and his pride, though before he can face the rest of the Fellowship again he locks himself in his suite and, television blaring out some nameless nature programme, cries hot, angry tears of frustration into his pillow.

He thinks he's got away from it all once they wrap on principal photography. After all, how difficult can a few weeks a year be?

The answer turns out to be "quite".

He's truly glad to see them all at the premieres, despite the blinding headache Viggo inflicts and the fact that his every move is being scrutinised by press and public alike.

Then Orlando watches the extra interview footage on the DVDs and feels as though he's been sucker-punched—in front of the whole world. True, Billy mocks Dom as well, and everyone teases Sean—which isn't really fair, in Orlando's opinion, because Sean has never been anything but kind and generous to all of them—but that doesn't really make up for the fact that what had been friendly private joking has suddenly become something akin to public hazing.

Orlando feels betrayed, though there's no way he'd ever admit it to any of them. He knows from experience that the slightest sign of weakness brings out the most vicious instincts in a bully.

He wishes he could let it all roll off of him like Viggo does, but he's opened himself too much to them for it not to be acutely painful when they take advantage of his lowered defences to slip a well-aimed blade between his ribs.

He tries to pretend it doesn't matter, tries to give more weight to Elijah's full-body hugs and Dom's kisses and Viggo's "spontaneous violent love" than he does to their sharp tongues, but it's hard and leaves him sick to his stomach, with a horribly flat, metallic taste in his mouth after every encounter.

It's not until he's filmed _Pirates_ , though—not until he's spent weeks on end in the company of the king of outsiders himself, Johnny Depp—that Orlando figures out that he can close off that part of himself, wall it away until it can no longer be affected by what others do or say.

And when they meet up for the next premiere, everyone is surprised at how "mature" young Orlando is and how he seems to have "grown into himself" in the intervening year. His suit is sombre, a far cry from the flamboyantly coloured, ruffle-fronted shirts he used to wear to these events, and everyone compliments him on how professional he looks and asks if he's got himself an image consultant.

He stifles the urge to laugh—or maybe cry—saying merely that he's learned a lot from Johnny. He doesn't tell them what he's learned: "if they're really your friends, they'll act like it", and "be cautious of where you put your trust", and "when the right person comes along, you'll know by the sense of peace you feel while with them".

It's the best advice he's ever been given and he keeps the napkin Johnny had jotted it all down on folded neatly in his wallet alongside the scrap of paper Kate had written her mobile number on the first time they'd met. He knows them both by heart, but that's not the point.

At the Empire Awards, Kate blushes and manages a tearful "yes" and he slips his gran's engagement ring on her finger.

When Dom says he didn't think Orlando was the settling-down-and-getting-married type, Orlando simply smiles enigmatically and doesn't tell Dom that that's because Dom's never had a fucking clue who Orlando really is.

Elijah rings up to offer his congratulations, teasing that "of course it's not going to last, because how long it will it be before the two of you are fighting over who's the prettiest?" and Orlando bites his tongue and laughs along, refusing to allow Franka's name to pass his lips in retaliation.

Viggo's poem is innocuous, if a bit obscure, and Sean and Christine's card is beautiful, tasteful, and obviously heartfelt. Johnny's phone call is quick and sincere, with the sound of Lily-Rose and Jack laughing and squealing in the background; Johnny tries to apologise, but Orlando stops him with a fond, "I'll have to get used to it eventually, man. Kate and I want kids someday."

The telegram from Bean says, simply:

ORLANDO BLOOM=  
IMPERIAL BORJ HOTEL=  
MARRAKESH, MOROCCO=

SOD THAT FOR A GAME OF SOLDIERS STOP COME GET TROLLEYED WITH ME INSTEAD STOP BIRDS ARE NEVER WORTH IT IN THE LONG RUN=

S BEAN  
SHEFFIELD, YORKSHIRE

Orlando laughs, thinking fondly that this is why Bean's been divorced three times; he's got some seriously fucked-up priorities.

Billy doesn't call or write. Orlando's not surprised, not after he'd slipped up and mentioned in front of Ali that Billy and Dom had been on-again/off-again in New Zealand and after. That one he ticks off under "my fault" on the tally in his head and doesn't blame Billy at all.

He _is_ surprised to receive flowers and a telephone call from Ian, and he feels more than a bit awkward at the hearty congratulations. He's managed to work himself up into a state of unreasoning guilt over his thoughtlessness—his cavalier attitude toward a precious right that's denied to Ian and Nick—when Ian tells him, very firmly, to "stop being such a bloody idiot" and reiterates his congratulations and decrees that Orlando _must_ watch the Academy Awards.

Orlando caves and later phones Kate, who promises to record it for him and bring the tape when she comes to visit in a couple of weeks.

He's forgotten all about it until she pulls the tape from her suitcase. They watch it together, curled up on the sofa in his hotel room.

Peter and Elijah and Dom had each called him—drunk to varying degrees—the night of the ceremony, so the results are no surprise. What is surprising to Orlando is how much their smiles and their tears affect him; he finds himself echoing the Hobbits' emotional responses to each announcement, feeling closer to them than he has in over two years.

When the tape clicks off, Kate wraps her arms around him and just holds him, silent and sweet, and this is what he loves so much about her: the way she knows what's happening inside him without the benefit of words. And once she's let go of him and he's wiped the dampness off his cheeks so he can pretend that his manly façade hasn't been marred, she silently hands him the phone and curls into his side while he makes a series of transatlantic phone calls.


End file.
